Automatic feed for wrapping machines



Aug. 23, 1932. E. 1.. SMITH I 1,873,053

AUTOMATIC FEED FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Original Filed May 15, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet l fill *T ITJI H Aug. 23, 1932. E L, SMITH A 1,873,058

\ AUTOMATIC FEED FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Original Filed May 15, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet 2 2| l ii IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- ELMER L. SMITH, ornonemmow, massacnusn'rrs, .assrenon 'ro PACKAGE m- CHINERY COMPANY, orsrnmermnn, massacnusmrs, A conromrron or trassacnusnrrs AUTOMATIC FEEDFOB WRAPPING MACHINES Original application filed May 15, 1930, SerialNo. 452,682. Divided and this application filed August 28, 1931. SerialNo. 559,900.

This invention relates to mechanism for feeding to a wrapping machine orother article treating devices a succession of articles such as cigars.Cigars are generally pressed in layers of fifteen or twenty-five and itis one object of this invention to permit these layers to be stackedmanually in a magazine, fed from the magazine one layer at a time, anddelivered to the wrapping machine in indi vidual succession. A furtherobject of the invention is to prevent any displacement of the cigarsduring their transit fromthe magazine to the point at which they aredelivered to the wrapping mechanism. A further object is to improvegenerally upon the type of cigar feeding mechanism illustrated anddescribed in the application of Frederick Grover, filed May 12, 1930,Serial No. 451,688..

The present application is a division of apgg plication Serial. No.452,682, filed May 15,

In accordance with these objects the invention consists generally in amagazine.

from which layers of cigars are forced bodily, one layer at a time, by aplunger. The cigars are received from the plunger upon an elevated tablewhich descends after the de-v livery of a layer thereto, so that thelayer of cigars is deposited upon a pair of parallel.

flat-backed chains, in this case composed of chains of the so-calledsilent type which have been found to be excellent for this purpose. Theconveyer chains are continuously mov ing and. the cigars are held out ofcontact with the conveyer until they have been delivered fully intoposition above it. A second chain similar to the first extends above itso that the cigars are held against movement during their transit alongthe chains. At the end of the chains the cigars are delivered in singlefile to the wrapping mechanism in a manner described in applicationSerial No. 452,682, of which the present case is a division.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a cigar feeding machine embodyingmy invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1;

gig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; an a Fig. 5 is a section online 5-5 of Fig.3.

The description of the machine-will start with the magazine in which thecigars are initially stacked by hand or by other suitable means. Themachine is supported upon a frame 10 to which a magazine supporting.bracket 11 is secured. A plate 12 carried upon this bracket forms thebottom of acigar magazine, the ends of which are formed by uprightpieces 13. The front plate 14 of t e magazine is held in place at anadjustable elevation by screws 15 passing through slots 16 in the frontplate and into threaded holes in theuprights. The back 17 is madereadily removable so that the cigars may be placed within the magazinein orderly layers. To facilitate the loading of the magazine a rearbracket 18 is secured to the bracket 11 and carries on its top' aloading table 19. This table as well as the rear upright members arepreferably made adjustable to accommodate cigars of differentdimensions.

To force the bottom layer of cigars out of the space between the plate12 and the bottom of the front plate 14 a reciprocating plunger isprovided. Upon supports 20 extending from the bracket 11 are ways 21 inwhich run rack slides 22 carrying a pusher carriage 23. A pusher plate24 provided with a head 25 is secured to this carriage. To slide thecarriage back and forth in the ways the rack slides 22 are provided withteeth 26 meshing with pinions 27 fast upon a shaft 28 which is journaledin bearings 29. A pinion 30 upon this shaft meshes with a rack 31 heldin position by a guide 32 and pivoted at 33 to the end of a crank member34 swung at 35 upon the frame. The crank is formed with a slideway 36 inwhich reciprocates a block 37 pivotally mounted upon a disk 38 securedto a shaft 39. The other end of this shaft is driven in any suitablemanner'from the cooperating wrapping machine so that it retates in timedrelation therewith.

As the cigars are fed from the magazine by the plunger they areprevented from overtravel by an abutment 43 formed on the frame. 11 thisposition the cigars are re- 100 ceived upon table members 44 carriedupon brackets 45 pivotally mounted at 46 (Fig. 4 to similar arms of apair of identical be cranks 47 mounted on rock shafts 48. The other armsof these bell cranks are joined by a link 49 so that they move in unisonand rovide a arallel motion for the table memers 44. ne. of the shafts48 has fixed to it an arm50 (Fig. 2) provided at its end with a rollcoactlng with a crown cam '51 secured to the shaft 39. The plates arethus caused to move in timed relation with the plunger which forces thelayers of cigars from the magazine, and the cam 51 is so designed thatthe plates will remain in their'eleva-ted position during the entireoutward movement of the plunger and will then descend to drop the layerof cigars upon the chain conveyer.

A pair of chains 55 having their upper run passing over a plate 56 topreserve accurate alignment pass at one end. around sprockets 57 securedon a. shaft 58. This shaft is carriedin brackets 59 adjustably mountedon studs 60 projecting from the frame, by means of lock nuts 61. Attheir other ends the chains pass around sprockets secured to a shaftdriven in timed relation to the wraparound a s rocket 66 (Fig. 2) secureto a,

shaft 67. second sprocket 68 on this shaft is joined by a chain 69 witha sprocket driven from. the wrappin machine. The sprocket sizes are sochosen t at the upper chain moves at the same surface speed as the twolower chains. A tension roll 71 of the usual form is provided tomaintain thechain 69 in proper condition. The upper run of the chainpasses over a support plate 72 suitably mounted upon the frame, in orderto revent it from coming in contact with ot er arts. Both the upperchain and the two ower chains are preferably made of the silentconstruction common in power drives; althou h this form of chain isutilized here primari neither for its ower transmission nor its s1- lentqualities, ut because the back of the chain is substantially flat andthus supports the cigars without the necessit of rovidinispecial backsfor the links 0 the c ain.

5 previously mentioned, the machine is designed for use of cigars ofdifferent diameters and the magazine is made adjustable for this reason.A further capacity forchange is also provided for, so that the machinemay accomodate either alternate layers of twelve and thirteen or regularlayers of twenty-five cigars. For this purpose the frame 10 is split at116 and 117. If it is desired to add a magazine of different width theframe extending to the right in Fig. 2 beyond the split 116 can beremoved, a longer chain 55 substituted and the enlargement accommodatedby the mere substitution of a wider plunger plate 24 and the widermagazine. It may also be desirable to operate the machine without amagazine, the cigars being fed either by hand or directly from a bandingmachine. In this case the frame may be taken apart along the line 117, ashorter chain substituted, and the bracket holding the shaft 58 boltedin place along the line 117 What I claim is:

1. A feeding devicefor cigars or similar articles which comprises amagazine, a plunger reciprocating beneath the ma azine to eject a layerof cigars therefrom, sliding racks connected with the plunger, pinionsmeshing with the racks, a gear rotatable with the pinions, a rackmeshing with.the gear, a slotted arm stationarily pivoted at one end andpivoted to the last named rack at the other end, and a constantlyrotatable crank carrying a member slidable in the slotted arm to impartmotion to the plunger through the mechanism described.

2. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1.

having a vertically reciprocable table upon which the cigars arereceived from the magazine when the table is elevated, a constantlymoving conveyer upon which the cigars are deposited when the table.descends, and mechanism for operating the table in timed relation withthe plunger.

3. A feeding device for cigars or similar articles, which comprises apair of continuously'runnin chain conveyers, one positioned above the oter to form a feeding channel for a file of articles between them, thelower conveyer extending beyond the upper conveyer, a magazinepositioned adjacent the exposed part of the lower conveyer, a plungeroperable to deliver a layer of cigars from the magazine to an elevationabove the conveyer, and a vertically reciprocable plate movable to anelevated position to receive a layer of cigars from the lunger and to adepressed position to deposit the layer upon the exposed part of thelower conveyer.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

ELMER L. SMITH.

